Wind Farms and Bird Kills

Recent mass bird kills by wind farms and the potential for more slaughter provided the impetus for the American Bird Conservancy recently
to petition the Department of the Interior to create mandatory
regulations to protect migratory birds at wind energy facilities.

In response, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced
plans to create a rule authorizing competitive leasing for wind and
solar projects on the public land it administers on Dec. 29. The
announcement states that before competitive leasing for wind projects
could occur, the agency would designate wind energy development zones.
According to the ABC, Wind energy development zones,
if done right, could be helpful to both birds and wind energy
development. Siting is the most important step in make wind energy
bird-smart and American Bird Conservancy looks forward to participating
in this rulemaking, to help ensure the BLM’s wind energy zones protect
birds while encouraging well-sited wind energy development. BLM’s
Federal Register Notice is available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-12-29/html/2011-33429.htm and the agency is accepting public comments and suggestions about the proposed rulemaking until February 27, 2012.

In addition, in 2011, Audubon led an effort to foster better
planning of electric power facilities by helping ensure that power
producers, power grid planners, and state regulators would have the
information they need in order to avoid environmentally sensitive
lands. A year ago there were no concrete plans to develop the needed
geospatial planning tools that could help this to happen. Today, that
work is underway and on track for completion late in 2012, and Audubon
is providing regular input as this work progresses. Read more on
Audubon’s efforts here. To read more on Audubon’s wind policy and actions, read here.

In November, Audubon investigated a recent bird kill of Blackpoll
Warblers and other species at a windfacility in West Virginia operated
by AES Wind Generation. AES representatives told Audubon they
have taken immediate corrective actions to curtail excessive night
lighting, replace equipment with preferable downward-shielded lighting
fixtures, and will modify other site specifications. They will increase
monitoring and take additional steps to reduce or eliminate lighting
the facility during migration seasons to avert future bird kills of
this type.

Now, Audubon is in discussions with AES and others about sharing the
lessons from this event with the broader wind industry and emphasizing
the importance of the lighting practices in the forthcoming federal
wind guidelines.

Meanwhile, plans to build a 32-turbine wind farm near the coast of
Washington in a key breeding area for a
threatened seabird have been halted. The decision by Energy Northwest
and three public utility districts was based on a softening of the wind
power market and likely wind farm operating conditions that might have
been suggested by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to ensure
protection of the Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) – a bird
whose population continues to decline despite being listed since 1992
as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Marbled Murrelets live at sea but nest inland in mature forests
where they lay a single egg and raise one chick per year. Each day,
starting before dawn and continuing until after sunset, they make
multiple trips between the ocean and the nest to feed the chick with
freshly-caught small fish. Loss of either parent typically
means the loss of both the parent bird and the
chick, as well as the loss of a breeding season. Marbled Murrelet
numbers along the west coast of the lower 48
states have been declining at the rate of about four per cent per year
for the last decade, about seven per cent per year in Washington where
the project was proposed. For more on this project, read here.

This is an important issue if we are to reduce our carbon footprint and have minimal impact on the environment.